In the electrical utilities industry, maintaining cable integrity may be critical. A loss of cable integrity, for example, a short circuit in a high voltage cable, may result in a crippling power outage, or, even worse, a loss of life. One everyday task that may pose a great threat to cable integrity is the formation of electrical connections.
When electrical connections are formed, a bare metal surface may be exposed, such as a splice connector. These bare metal surfaces may be particularly hazardous when formed in the field where they are exposed to the environment. This environment may include rocks and other sharp objects as well as moisture when the connection is to be buried under ground and rainfall when the connection is to be suspended in the air. Thus, there is a need to protect such electrical connections from the environment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,828,005 to Huynh-Ba et al. proposes the use of a gel-filled closure for environmentally protecting a connector forming a connection between a cable and at least one electrical component. The closure may include first and second cavitied bodies, each having two lateral sides and two end sides. The closure may have a hinge joining the first and second bodies along a lateral edge. The closure may be integrally made of a thermoplastic material by injection molding. The thermoplastic material may have a tensile yield strength of at least 3,500 psi. The closure may include reinforcing ribs which decrease the deflection in the closure near fingers as the enclosed gel expands during service at elevated temperatures.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,888,070 to Clark et al. proposes a flexible envelope having therein a sealing material.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,580 to Reuter proposes an environmental closure having an outer, openable, shell with an internal biasing mechanism. The shell may contain viscous sealant material. Pressure from the biasing mechanism may operate to force sealant between adjacent wires. The adjacent wires may form a pigtail splice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,963,700 to Olsen et al. proposes a closure provided to facilitate an environmental seal about a multi-wire splice or junction.
An additional problem may arise when the cables to be connected are multicore cables. Multicore cables may typically contain two or more wires within an insulating sheath. These wires may, for example, carry different phases of an electrical power signal. When electrical connections arc made to such wires, the connections may not only need to be protected from the environment, but also need to be protected from one another.
JP58224725A proposes a protection cover that is obtained by inserting and coupling tubular structures in which plural wires can be inserted separately inside a heat-shrinkable tube of which both ends are open.
Other closures may provide a separator that separates the wires of the multicore cable from one another.
While gel filled closures that incorporate such separators may protect the wires of a multicore cable from one another, they may not adequately protect the wires from the environment. The orientation of the cables between the end of the sheath and the separator may limit the ability of the gel from the gel filled closure to adequately seal the wires. As a result, a tear in the sheath of the multicore cable may allow moisture to enter the gel filled closure. Water may enter the multicore cable through the tear in the sheath and then move down the interior of the multicore cable into the gel filled closure.